Limousine driver, 77, gave schoolgirls alcohol before raping them in a Hummer and threatening their families

A LIMO driver who used his company to rape schoolgirls in his stretch Hummer has been sentenced to 24 years in prison.

David Saynor, 77, targeted particularly vulnerable children, giving them free rides and money, and supplying them with drink and drugs before raping or sexually assaulting them.

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After a trial at Sheffield Crown Court, he was found guilty of a series of child sex offences between 2005 and 2017.

Saynor, now of Mayall Court in Waddington, Lincolnshire, was told by Judge David Dixon that given his age and health he was likely to remain in prison for the rest of his life.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that between 2005 and 2017, Saynor lured children into his limousine on the pretext that he wanted them to do “promotional work” for his company.

His eight victims, aged between 12 and 17 at the time, were often picked up from schools or care homes in his stretch Hummer limousine and driven around Rotherham.

The girls were given money for cigarettes, food and sometimes drugs, and were ‘actively encouraged’ to call him if they needed a ride or to bring their friends.

The despicable rapist was arrested in 2020 by the National Crime Agency (NCA) as part of Operation Stovewood.

He denied the charges, but after a five-week trial was found guilty of four counts of rape, two counts of paying for sexual services from a child and five counts of meeting a child after sexual harassment.

Saynor was also found guilty of three counts of sexual assault by penetration, two counts of sexual acts with a child and two counts of sexual acts in the presence of a child.

Victim impact statements read in court detailed the lasting trauma Saynor’s abuse had caused.

His victims, now all adults, said they felt Saynor had robbed them of their childhood and damaged their trust in men.

Many of them reported struggling with their mental health, feeling lonely, afraid to leave the house and finding it difficult to build relationships with others.

One victim said: “I’m an emotional wreck and every day is hard. I don’t have good days, I have better days.”

Another victim said she suffered from nightmares and became an overprotective parent because of what happened to her.

She said: “David ruined my childhood and I feel like he ruined my adult life too. I don’t know who I am anymore.”

At the end of the hearing, Judge David Dixon thanked the women for their courage in testifying in court.

“You are all amazing women because you were brave and strong enough to resist questions and the suggestion that you were only in it for the money,” he said.

“If you do all that, you show that you are the currentIt’s not him, you decide that, not him.”

Judge Dixon told Saynor he must serve at least two-thirds of a 24-year sentence, making it “effectively a life sentence” due to Saynor’s age and deteriorating health.

Operation Stovewood was set up in response to the Jay Report, which sent shockwaves through the country in 2014 when it emerged that at least 1,400 girls in the city had been abused, trafficked and manipulated by gangs of men, mainly of Pakistani origin, between 1997 and 2013.

Last autumn the NCA insisted that “this does not mean we are going to stop”, when it announced that from January new allegations would be dealt with by South Yorkshire Police rather than Operation Stovewood.

The agency said it was “confident that we have done all we realistically can to identify individuals who may have been victims”, and said it had identified more than 1,100 children involved in the exploitation between 1997 and 2013 – almost all of them girls.

The agency said it is committed to continuing the current investigations until the end of the criminal process, which is expected to last until 2027.

A total of 36 people have been convicted so far as a result of the operation